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Two years ago, Rajon Rondo might not have been capable of taking over a game against an elite opponent. At least not the way he did in the Celtics 91-80 win over the Orlando Magic yesterday afternoon.

Rondo scored 26 points, not only leading the Celtics in scoring but coming within 2 points of the combined total of the Orlando backcourt (starters and reserves). It was not a flawless performance, but it displayed how close Rondo is to reaching his potential as a point guard. There was plenty of choreographing and setting up teammates, but this was Rondos time to show he really can make opponents pay the price for leaving him to help defensively on Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

It was a ragged game, with a couple of alarming collisions. The flow was interrupted early. It started after Rondo was called for a charge, his second personal foul, a play that altered the Celtics substitution patterns.

By the time things started to settle down, Glen Davis had been treated in the Celtics locker room, Dwight Howard had gone to the bench after taking a slap from Semih Erden, and Marquis Daniels had been admitted to New England Baptist Hospital with a bruised spine.

But there were still some hard hits to be administered, and Rondo absorbed a lot of them. Rondo was driving and posting up Jameer Nelson in the half-court game, flying down the court in transition. Rondo did hit jump shots, but he went inside as well, and paid a physical price.

We got stops. I think that helped, it allowed me to get out in transition and make plays, Rondo said. They stayed on Ray and Pauls body, so I really didnt have outlets. My only outlet was to try and score the ball.

I still missed a lot of shots. All my misses were pretty much jump shots, but I just kept taking them. I think I missed my first two, but they felt good. But Ive been shooting a lot more jump shots lately. Im going to continue to shoot them and [today] the lane just opened up a lot more even though Dwight was in there.

Asked if Rondo should be offensively aggressive more often, coach Doc Rivers replied, It really depends on the game. You know, I want him to be aggressive every game. Whenever he does go [to the basket], we want him to go with power and speed and be willing to get fouled. Obviously, he made great shots and all that. I just liked the fact that he had no problem if he got fouled.

After Daniels went down early in the second quarter, the Celtics motivation seemed to go up.

Scary moment, Rondo said. We still havent heard an update, so just wish him the best. Those moments dont really happen in basketball. Its crazy, that you have to wait for something to happen to get a boost, but thats just how it is.